Food Budget= $3/Day.
Relative Cambodian time budget= priceless/(x)minutes.
Well, we've transferred from the hostel to our base for the month. We're being put up at Phnom Penh's YWAM base which is in the heart of the city. Zillions of motorcycles, mopeds and tuk tuk taxis flood the streets and sidewalks, zigzagging every which way in a bewildering display of controlled chaos. I mean, people are driving on the wrong side of the road while the main road has five lanes of people in a two and a half car spaced street.. The best way to cross the street is to find a relatively slow traffic period, start walking and commit because if you hesitate, it just confuses people. It's a mini adventure every time, heh.
Let's see.. today we befriended our tuk tuk driver, Don, who speaks English pretty well- a rarity here, it seems. The tuk tuks are different here than in Thailand, as these ones have double seats, able to seat four to six; the tuk tuks in Thailand only had one seat and could fit up to three people. This is nice for the fact that we'll all be able to fit in one taxi ride while we're here and it's even better because we'll have to take a tuk tuk to some ministry location at least six days out of the week.
So, our ministry: AOC is teaching English again! The deviation from last month is that the focus at this school is on Christ and it's no secret. In Malaysia we taught English to groups of students ten or smaller, never making verbal mention of our beliefs because of the heavy Islamic influence in the providence we were in. By heavy, I mean we'd potentially get arrested indefinitely for asserting our beliefs in any way to the wrong person; however, now we teach classes that number between five and thirty students and we are free to speak as we wish. Bonus: we have student translators!! The lessons are reading comprehension and verbal assessment centered rather then workbook style vocabulary like it was in Malaysia- superb. We might also have the chance to go to some remote villages and get to know the people there, lead youth group at church, potentially preach and I will most likely be painting another mural at the school we're working in (score).
Now, what about the people in Cambodia; what are they like? The multitudes generally are highly relational and we take in this fact when conducting our English classes. It is more important that we build meaningful relationships, love on and share our hearts with these students than it is that we teach them perfect English. These people want to get to know you, hear about your family, your life, know your name and have their name be known (even if our American accents prevent us from saying it completely correctly..). Consider this: the people of Cambodia were devastated by the reign of the Khmer Rouge, who in the span of 1975-79, killed about thirty percent of the population off in their bloody social/governmental reform. About 80% of the population is age thirty or younger because of this genocide; it's no wonder these people desire to be known and counted as individuals when nameless murder and warfare has plagued this nation so dramatically and so recently.
So then, we begin our time here with these lovely, utterly shy, yet utterly interested students. Their personalities are charming already and if tonight's events are reflective of the rest of the time we will have here in Cambodia, then we are in for a highly awesome month six~
